The father teaching a poem by adding lines sequentially demonstrates shaping across what?

• A. Shaping across response topographies
• B. Shaping within response topography
• C. Differential reinforcement
• D. Chaining

Answer: (A)

Shaping uses reinforcement to move a learner toward a target behavior by reinforcing closer and closer approximations. When those approximations differ in form, you’re shaping across response topographies. In this scenario, adding lines one by one changes what the learner is producing—the recitation grows in length and structure as training proceeds. The early attempts are shorter, and later attempts are longer, so the form of the response itself is changing across steps. That change in the topography of the response reflects shaping across response topographies. If the goal were simply to say the same lines more accurately or fluently without changing how the response is produced, it would be shaping within the same topography. Chaining, on the other hand, centers on linking distinct steps into a sequence, whereas the key feature here is the evolving form of the whole response as more lines are added.